The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer: Character map and writing

assignment

Prerequisites: Close reading intro. Of Canterbury Tales, Notes on Peasants revolt,
notes on the estates of Medieval European society.

Directions:
As we discussed, there were essentially three different estates in Medieval
European society. They were: Nobility/Military, Clergy and Peasantry. Women
had their own estate designation that relegated them to second-class citizenry:
They were either virgin,married or widowed. Their place in society was entirely
connected to their sex-lives and to the men with whom they were or were not
connected.

Read the section(s) youve chosen from the General Prologue. Use the close
-reading skills you learned on Monday to garner as much information as you can.

Create a character map for the character(s) youve been assigned that has Four
components: Start by simply using the characters nameor profession if no name
is givenat the center of the page. 1) Then, in small boxes around the page,
paraphrase (*not summarize) physical characteristic descriptions (at least four)
and 2) paraphrase character or personality descriptions (again, at least four) that
provide us insight into who the character is. 3) Use at least one quote from the
characters section in the prologue that acts as supporting detail for the
descriptions youve chosen. 4) Finally, what conclusions and commentary do you
have about your character? Write a brief paragraph that indicates you understand
the characters social standing, and through your reading, what Chaucer the
pilgrims opinion of the character was. You may illustrate your character if youd
like. It is not required, but may help the explain your character even more.Your
map should be completed by the end of class Thursday, Nov. 9. We will only work on
the maps a portion of the day Thursday.

From Purdue Universitys Online Writing Lab (OWL):

*Paraphrasing involves putting a passage from source material into your own words. A
paraphrase must also be attributed to the original source. Paraphrased material is usually
shorter than the original passage, taking a somewhat broader segment of the source and
condensing it slightly.
Summarizing involves putting the main idea(s) into your own words, including only the main
point(s). Once again, it is necessary to attribute summarized ideas to the original source.
Summaries are significantly shorter than the original and take a broad overview of the
source material.